Pa.’s ‘scavenger hunt’ approach to vaccines leaves everyone on their own | Opinion

Pennsylvania’s vaccination rollout is an example of humanity at its finest, and government at its lowest. Pennsylvania must do better. To date, our state’s vaccine distribution has been inefficient, inadequate, and inequitable.

Every day on Facebook, a group of Pennsylvanians gathers to help other Pennsylvanians find appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations. The “Finders,” as they call themselves, scour the internet, threading their way through the patchwork system of vaccine providers in Pennsylvania and constantly refreshing websites in the hope of finding appointments for the “Seekers” — typically, less web-savvy Pennsylvanians who qualify for vaccination but are unable to navigate Pennsylvania’s labyrinthine process for scheduling their shots on their own. The Finders do it for no reason other than to help their neighbors; the Seekers turn to them because the state has given them nowhere else to go.

» READ MORE: These women hustled to get COVID-19 vaccination appointments for family. Now they’re helping strangers.

To be fair, in the first few months, the single biggest issue plaguing the process in Pennsylvania has been supply: the federal government initially offered only very limited quantities, while at the same time expanding Phase 1-A of vaccine eligibility to include a sizable portion of the population. While the federal government has started to appreciably ramp up its supply to the state, the fact remains that we have more vaccine-eligible people than we have doses of vaccine.

Nevertheless, the administration of available doses has been unnecessarily chaotic. Pennsylvania has opted for a “scavenger hunt” approach to scheduling a vaccination: just keep looking. Leaving Pennsylvanians to their own devices to find available appointments at pharmacies and clinics has resulted, in utterly predictable fashion, in an inequitable distribution of the vaccine along racial and socioeconomic lines.

Our current rollout does not adequately assist people in Phase 1-A to navigate the system without the use of a computer or smartphone, even though this group includes people ages 65 and older — the group of our population least likely to use a computer or smartphone on a daily basis. We also must be committed to the hands-on work needed to vaccinate people in the communities hit hardest by this virus, including Latino communities, where language barriers and a mistrust of the government already exist.

These inequities have long been part of our privatized health-care system, and like so many social ills, COVID-19 has brought them into sharper focus. But that doesn’t mean that these problems with vaccine access should be inevitable.

At minimum, Pennsylvania must establish a statewide registry for vaccinations, through which every phase-eligible Pennsylvanian can be assured that when an appointment becomes available, they will be contacted and their vaccination promptly scheduled. Some colleagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would do just that. I am a cosponsor of that bill, and I am determined to see it through to the end. Additionally, the state legislature recently passed legislation that would facilitate the use of the Pennsylvania National Guard in setting up mass vaccination sites at the county level. It is my hope that we can use such sites to efficiently remedy the recently confirmed undersupply of doses to the counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

» READ MORE: Vaccine distribution is a mess. Time to call in the National Guard. | Expert Opinion

The past year of this pandemic has been difficult for all of us. We’ve lost loved ones, time with friends and family, education, jobs, and businesses. We’ve made enormous sacrifices to keep one another safe because, as the rallying cry goes, “we’re all in this together.” Now, when there is finally light at the end of this pandemic tunnel, is not the time to tell every Pennsylvanian, “You’re on your own.” We need an ambitious, inclusive, and accessible system for vaccine distribution from our state government.

Mike Zabel began his second term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in January. He serves portions of Delaware County, including Havertown, Upper Darby, Clifton Heights, and Aldan. A graduate of Temple Law, he formerly served as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia.